The way marijuana products are packaged and labeled in Colorado has continually raised concerns for state government officials. So, starting in 2019, all marijuana packaging in the state will have to show the “universal THC symbol.”

Prior packaging rules required that only recreational marijuana products bear the universal THC symbol, according to Westword. But the new law requires medical products also show the same THC symbol (the word THC inside a red or black diamond).

The new labeling requirements were selected following tedious stakeholder conversations in 2017. Both the Colorado Department of Revenue and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment made the final decision.

CDPHE Deputy Executive Director Karin McGowan said, “Whether it’s used on retail or medical marijuana products, the universal symbol helps both consumers and non-consumers easily identify that a product contains THC and avoid unintentional ingestion. We’re confident that the integration of a single symbol will help streamline our public health message, which focuses on the importance of educating yourself, young people and out-of-town guests about what the symbol means.”

The symbols on retail products won’t become mandatory until January 1, 2019, and medical marijuana products will have until July 1, 2019 to make the required changes.

According to CDOR executive director Mike Hartman, creating the standardized diamond symbol was a vital move for universally recognizing marijuana products. He said, “The adoption of a single universal symbol is part of our ongoing effort to protect public health and safety by enhancing consumers’ ability to identify products containing marijuana and reducing confusion stemming from two distinct symbols. One truly universal symbol also works to simplify and improve industry compliance with regard to packaging and labeling.”

Federal prosecutors will not waste time on minor marijuana cases, regardless of the Justice Department’s announcement of lifting an Obama-era policy that discouraged U.S. authorities from cracking down on marijuana industries in states where it’s been legalized, according to a new statement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Federal law enforcement just does not have the resources to take on “routine cases” and will focus on drug-related gangs and other large conspiracies, according to Sessions, The Press Democrat reports. The comments came after the Trump administration sent the blossoming marijuana legalization industry into uncertainty by rescinding the hands-off approach of the Obama administration.

The Obama-era policy allowed the marijuana industry to flourish, with nine states legalizing recreational marijuana use. The reversal has increased confusion regarding whether it’s okay to grow, buy or use marijuana in states that have legalized it, since it remains illegal federally. It also raised concerns that prosecutors would be empowered to imprison individuals for marijuana possession.

Sessions said, “I am not going to tell Colorado or California or someone else that possession of marijuana is legal under United States law.” He added that federal prosecutors “haven’t been working small marijuana cases before, they are not going to be working them now.”

Areas of particular interest include problems that federal authorities have tried to tackle for some time, like illicit marijuana cultivation operations on national parklands and gangs that sell marijuana along with dangerous drugs like meth and heroine. Some law enforcement officials in marijuana-legal states argue the legalization has caused unintended problems such as black-market marijuana cultivations and illegal dealings by people that aren’t interested in complying with state law.

It remains to be seen, however, whether prosecutors will seek to punish state-licensed marijuana businesses. Some state U.S. attorneys have said that they have no plans to do so. Sessions said, “Those are the kinds of things each one of those U.S. attorneys will decide how to handle.”

Scientific studies increasingly support that marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes helps to reduce opioid use and abuse.

According to newly published data by the Minnesota Department of Health, 63% of patients using opiate pain medication upon their enrollment into the state’s medical marijuana program were able to “reduce or eliminate opioid usage after six months,” The Hill reports.

Minnesota’s pro-medical marijuana conclusion is becoming commonplace. In 2016, data was compiled from patients enrolled in Michigan’s medical marijuana program and reported that marijuana treatment “was associated with a 64% decrease in opioid use, decreased number and side effects of medications, and an improved quality of life.”

A review of state-registered patients from several northeastern states returned similar results, finding that 77% of respondents said they’d reduced their use of opioids after starting medical marijuana therapy. A large percentage of survey respondents also reported decreasing their use of anti-anxiety medications (72%), migraine medications (67%), sleep aids (65%) and some antidepressants (38%).

A 2017 assessment of medical marijuana patients in Illinois determined that participants in the state’s medical marijuana program reported frequent use of marijuana “as an alternative to other medications — most commonly opioids, but also anticonvulsants, anti-inflammatories, and over-the-counter analgesics.”

New Mexico patient data indicates that, compared to non-marijuana users, medical marijuana patients “were more likely either to reduce daily opioid prescription dosages between the beginning and end of the sample period (83.8% versus 44.8%) or to cease filling opioid prescriptions altogether (40.5% versus 3.4%).”

Two newly published clinical trials from Israel, where medical marijuana use is legal, further confirms this phenomenon. The first study assessed marijuana use among the elderly, and investigators reported that more than 18% of the participants “stopped using opioid analgesics or reduced their dose” in a 6-month period.

Researchers concluded that, “Cannabis can decrease the use of other prescription medicines, including opioids.” In the second trial, assessing the safety and efficacy of marijuana in a group of over 1,200 cancer patients, scientists reported that almost half of the respondents reported either a decrease or elimination of their use of opioids during their treatment.

Investigators from Columbia University’s Medical Center looked into the efficacy of low doses of inhaled marijuana and other sub-therapeutic doses of oxycodone on experimentally induced pain in a double blind, placebo-controlled study model. They concluded that while neither the administration of marijuana nor oxycodone alone significantly eliminated the subjects’ pain, the combination of both medications was effective.

The authors determined that, “Both active cannabis and a low dose of oxycodone (2.5 mg) were sub-therapeutic, failing to elicit analgesia on their own; however, when administered together, pain responses … were significantly reduced, pointing to the opioid-sparing effects of cannabis”. They concluded that, “Smoked cannabis combined with an ineffective analgesic dose of oxycodone produced analgesia comparable to an effective opioid analgesic dose without significantly increasing cannabis abuse liability.”

The science-backed pro-marijuana data are consistent, concise and accruing.

The United Kingdom is the largest producer and exporter of legal marijuana for medicinal and scientific use in the world, according to new data by the United Nation’s International Narcotics Control Board.

The UK produced 209,439 pounds of legal marijuana in 2016, which is over double the production totals in 2015, Sky News reports. This accounts for 44.9% of the marijuana produced in the entire world.

The closest competitor is Canada, with 177,913 pounds produced.

About 4,630 pounds was exported out of the UK, making it responsible for 67.7% of the world’s total marijuana export, with the Netherlands next at 16.4%.

One drug policy reform lobby group faults the UK government, saying it has “consistently refused to allow medical marijuana in the UK on the basis that it has ‘no therapeutic value.’”

Steve Rolles, Transform’s senior policy analyst, said, “It is scandalous and untenable for the UK government to maintain that cannabis has no medical uses, at the same time as licensing the world’s biggest government-approved medical cannabis production and export market.” He continued, “UK patients are either denied access and suffering unnecessarily or are forced to buy cannabis from the criminal market. Countries with proper access to medical cannabis do not have this problem, as standardized cannabis products are in the hands of doctors and pharmacists.”

A large portion of the UK‘s legal marijuana production goes into making a marijuana-based medicine called Sativex, produced by GW Pharmaceuticals. It is available via prescription to patients such as those suffering with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

According to its website, #JeffSesh is a “grassroots campaign” telling the U.S. Attorney General that all kinds of people smoke legal marijuana, and they aren’t “criminals, junkies, or idiots,” AL.com reports.

The “General Jeff’s Old Rebel Session Papers” are available in two colors. The first batch of the papers has already sold out, but the group says a new company is working on making more rolling papers fast.

The packages are available in black and white, both showing Sessions smoking a joint with the slogan, “Don’t Beauregard that joint, my friend!” Other slogans used are “Please sesh responsibly” and “Have a #JeffSesh.”

The papers can be ordered on the #JeffSesh website or on the advocacy group’s Etsy store.

#JeffSesh has an additional message for the attorney general: “We’re good, responsible, patriotic Americans. We’re voters from both parties, and no parties. We are regular Jeffs all over the USA. We are upstanding citizens who don’t want to hide every time we want to enjoy a sesh. And frankly, we’re offended the top law enforcement officer in the nation thinks we’re bad people. #JeffSesh is the coming out party for 21st century legal cannabis users. We bet Mister Sessions will be surprised to see what good people we are!”

Employers continue to have trouble hiring workers in the tightening U.S. job market, and as more states legalize recreational marijuana there’s been a decrease in pre-employment drug tests, which for many decades was a requirement for new hires in industries ranging from manufacturing to finance.

As of 2018, Las Vegas-based Excellence Health Inc., a health care company that employs roughly 6,000 people, decided to stop drug testing employees in the pharmaceutical side of the business, according to AL.com.

Liam Meyer, Excellence Health spokesperson, said, “We don’t care what people do in their free time. We want to help these people, instead of saying: ‘Hey, you can’t work for us because you used a substance.”

In February, AutoNation Inc., the largest automotive dealer in the country, announced that it would no longer disregard job applicants that test positive for marijuana, and in 2016, The Denver Post stopped its pre-employment drug screening process for all non-safety sensitive positions.

Companies in states that have legalized some form of marijuana are leading the way on nixing drug tests.

A survey in 2017 by Mountain States Employers Council surveyed 609 Colorado employers and found that the number of companies testing for marijuana dropped to 66%, down from 77% in 2016.

Drug testing reduces the candidate pool and in the current narrow labor market it’s affecting productivity and growth.

In surveys conducted by the Federal Reserve in 2017, employers noted an inability for applicants to pass drug screenings as a reason for difficulties in hiring. Failed screenings reached an all-time high in 2017, according to data compiled from Quest Diagnostics Inc.

Fans planning to attend the World Cup in Russia this summer will be permitted to bring select narcotics into stadiums, but there’s a catch.

Russia, the leader of the Eurasian Economic Union, has provisions in place to allow those traveling to its member states to bring certain banned substances with them, Sports Illustrated reports. Travelers are permitted to declare certain drugs at customs if a doctor’s note, written in Russian, is provided.

Marijuana, cocaine and heroin are just a few among the plethora of substances on the list of declarable items.

If fans are able to transport these drugs into Russia, FIFA rules will permit them to bring the substance into the stadiums. FIFA lets fans bring narcotics and psychotropic substances into stadiums if they possess a written prescription (in English or Russian) and the drugs remain in the original packaging.

The Russian World Cup organizing committee said, “Security officers will monitor the enforcement of rules for carrying prescription drugs to stadium grounds at checkpoints.”

A prominent Democratic U.S. senator – and probable presidential candidate for the 2020 race – has slammed pharmaceutical companies for their opposition of marijuana legalization.

Senator Kristen Gillibrand recently appeared on Good Day New York and responded to a question about whether marijuana really is a “gateway drug” leading people to try more dangerous substances, Forbes reports. Gillibrand said, “To them it’s competition for chronic pain, and that’s outrageous because we don’t have the crisis in people who take marijuana for chronic pain having overdose issues… It’s not as highly addictive as opioids are. On the federal level, we really need to say it is a legal drug you can access if you need it.”

Legalization advocates have always presumed that Big Pharma is working behind the scenes to keep marijuana prohibition intact. In 2016, Insys Therapeutics, maker of the opioid-based fentanyl and a synthetic version of THC, donated $500,000 to help defeat a marijuana legalization initiative in Arizona last year.

Gillibrand also stated, “I don’t see [marijuana] as a gateway to opioids. What I see is the opioid industry and the drug companies that manufacture it, some of them in particular, are just trying to sell more drugs that addict patients and addict people across this country.”

Studies have shown that states with medical marijuana programs have reduced opioid overdose rates.

Research published earlier this month indicates that “legally protected and operating medical marijuana dispensaries reduce opioid-related harms,” which suggests that “some individuals may be substituting towards marijuana, reducing the quantity of opioids they consume or forgoing initiation of opiates altogether.”

Journal of Health Economics researchers wrote, “Marijuana is a far less addictive substance than opioids and the potential for overdosing is nearly zero.”

Last week, Gillibrand became the second co-sponsor of a piece of far-reaching Senate legislation to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act entirely and remove federal funding from states that continue racially disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws.

Gillibrand said, “Millions of Americans’ lives have been devastated because of our broken marijuana policies, especially in communities of color and low-income communities. Legalizing marijuana is a social justice issue and a moral issue that Congress needs to address.”

Gillibrand also sponsors other medical marijuana legislation and recently signed a letter urging new protections for state marijuana laws to be included in federal spending legislation. She said, “I think medical marijuana could be treatment for a lot of folks. A lot of veterans have told us that this is the best treatment for them. I do not see it as a gateway drug.”

Several political observers speculate that Gillibrand may run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She, and at least two additional Democratic contenders, have already endorsed national marijuana legalization.

Pedestrian deaths have increased over the last few years, so the Governors Highway Safety Association decided to conduct a study into why. Though the study found there to be several plausible reasons–such as more texting and more drivers on the roads–for the rise in pedestrian deaths, they unnecessarily attempted to blame marijuana legalization.

The group called out the states that have legalized marijuana, even though the data doesn’t point towards marijuana as the cause, reports the New York Times. For instance, in 2017, there were only 4 more pedestrian deaths in Colorado than the year before. In Massachusetts they saw a decrease in deaths from the previous year, and Alaska’s and Maine’s data wasn’t sufficient enough to identify any kind of connection to marijuana legalization.

With insufficient evidence pointing at marijuana as a cause for the deaths, the study’s author, Richard Retting, still threw marijuana into the mix. He said, “We are not making a definitive, cause-and-effect link to marijuana,” but it’s a “marker for concern.”

Many safety experts tout the increase in pedestrian deaths to more people being on the road and using cellphones as the economy recovers from the recession a few years ago.

Jason Levine of the Center for Auto Safety said, “I’d be cautious about drawing a direct link to any potential cause. But it’s certainly worth trying to figure out why those numbers are what they are.”

Retting indicated that after his examination of the data, smartphone use might be a contributing factor. Between 2015 and 2016, pedestrian fatalities rose 10% each year. He noted that smartphone use tripled between 2010 and 2016.

Five states–Arizona, California, Florida, Texas and New York–account for 43% of pedestrian fatalities. The states with the most pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 persons were Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana and New Mexico. In Arizona, pedestrians crossing the street in non-crosswalk areas was oftentimes the cause of the accident.

The study’s data clearly found that distracted drivers and pedestrians are the likely culprits for the rise in pedestrian deaths; Yet, for some unknown and presumably discriminatory reason, the study decided to throw marijuana under the bus.